http://www.breitbart.com/california/2016/04/17/minimum-wage-california-american-apparel/
The first accomplishment of California’s pioneering $15 minimum wage law is killing the revival of America’s clothing industry.
American Apparel, which provided 10 percent of all apparel manufacturing jobs in Los Angeles, has
terminated 500 employees in the last two weeks. Chief Executive Paula Schneider also told the
Los Angeles Times that “manufacturing of more complicated pieces, such as jeans, could soon be outsourced to a third-party company.”
Apparel-making got cut in half over the next decade, as Chinese and Asian imports coming through Los Angeles ports sky-rocketed to $46 billion. The number of local apparel-making sites fell to 2,200 and local industry jobs shriveled to 46,000.
But according to the
California Fashion Association, Los Angeles apparel-making was back to growth by 2013 as a “steady inflation rate” in China, driven by higher labor costs, increasingly pushed apparel manufacturing and textile contractors to move to lower wage countries like Vietnam, Cambodia, and Bangladesh. Coupled with high sea, land, and air shipping costs, the advantage in outsourcing apparel-making versus U.S. manufacturing became much less attractive.
Last year in Los Angeles County, there were 62,774 workers in apparel-making and 10,887 workers in textile manufacturing. Although imports were still substantial, local companies
booked revenues of over $18 billion and paid workers $6.4 billion. Average rate of pay for fashion designers was $35-per-hour, and the average pay for apparel and textile workers hit $15-per-hour.
By capturing
36 percent of all U.S. apparel manufacturing, the Los Angeles County fashion ethosphere also supported 3,770 fashion designers, 5,590 cosmetics workers, 6,985 jewelry workers and 5,904 footwear workers.